Algonquin teachers agree to 3-year contract

Friday

Mar 21, 2014 at 6:15 AM

By Brad PetrishenDaily News Staff

Algonquin Regional High School teachers have agreed to terms on a new three-year contract, Superintendent Charles Gobron announced Wednesday.The teachers will receive increases of 1.5 percent in fiscal 2015, 2 percent in fiscal 2016 and 1.8 percent in fiscal 2017, Gobron told members of the Northborough-Southborough Regional School Committee.Gobron said the negotiations included changes to the structure of teacher contracts that should correct "inequalities" between pay grades that have developed over time.Like many districts, the high school uses a system of "steps and lanes" that rewards teachers for advancing in their own personal education and for the amount of time they've been with the schools."The first year of the contract includes an adjustment which resulted in step equity - normalizing the dollar increments between steps - and retaining teachers at their current steps with no advancement," Gobron said.School administrators said they could not yet release the dollar amounts tied to the percentage increases. The high school is still negotiating with unions for secretaries and janitors, while Southborough is still negotiating with K-8 teachers.According to the most recent budget, contractual obligations at Algonquin are projected to rise by $567,571 total for fiscal 2015. That includes increases for all school employees, including the secretaries and janitors.The $567,571 increase would represent 67 percent of the school's overall proposed $845,409 budget increase from fiscal 2014 to fiscal 2015. The towns will recommend a $20.09 million to their respective Town Meetings next month, a 4.39 percent increase from the current year.Regional School Committee member Paul Butka, who served on the negotiating team, said he's happy with the way things turned out."It was a pretty good deal for both them and us," he said, and was achieved with "no real resentment or hard feelings."Butka said the tweaks to the steps and lanes are important because the system had become "skewed" over the years and will now be more consistent.Gobron said Thursday that while the step and lanes expand the raises – a 2 percent increase can become a 4 or 5 percent increase, for example – that's typically for teachers who are toward the bottom of the pay scale."It's not out of line at all with what area towns are doing," he said.Brad Petrishen can be reached at 508-490-7463 or bpetrishen@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @BPetrishen_MWDN.

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